


Every Moment is a Teaching Moment.

by One_Real_Imonkey



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coda, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Gunshot Wounds, Introspection, Season/Series 01, Teacher!Ben, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Real_Imonkey/pseuds/One_Real_Imonkey
Summary: Animals, like people, have survival instincts, fight, play dead, hide, flight, safety in numbers.His Dragoons have been ambushed.Ben remembers teaching it to his class.Coda to episode one.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Every Moment is a Teaching Moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Short coda to the first episode.  
> I don't own.  
> Teacher!Ben. This fandom needs more Teacher!Ben.  
> Please enjoy.

Captain Ben Tallmadge had a bad feeling as he rode through the woods. Paranoia, Caleb would have said, you’re paranoid Benny-boy, but he was rarely wrong. His men had been instructed to meet with General Lee’s men and join them for their next campaign. It made no sense, Lee had more than enough men for what he wanted to do. His Dragoon’s weren’t needed, unless there was some vital information he’d missed. 

_“Alright Class, today, we’re going to be learning about how animals survive. So, there are four primary methods. Can, can anyone name any of them."_

_“Fight, like a wolf.”_

_“Like a bear.”_

_“Like Mr Bookworth’s cat.”_

The first gunshots cut through the air with deadly accuracy. The horses panicked, blood sprayed, he yelled his orders, but it was too late. 

It was an ambush. One they’d walked directly into. Queens Rangers poured from the surrounding woods, and it was not luck, it couldn’t be. They were prepared, they’d known. 

His men were cut down beside him, they didn’t stand a chance. 

_“Ok, yes good, fight, that’s one.” he chalked the word fight onto the board, “What else?”_

_“I saw a possum I thought was dead once, but it wasn’t.”_

_“Correct, playing dead. If an animal doesn’t think it can survive a fight, it can pretend to be dead. Lots of predators, those are the animals that attack other animals, won’t go after something already dead. They won’t see it as a threat. Other animals freeze up, the same way you might when I_ _catch_ _you doing something you know you shouldn’t.”_

Ben was alive. He didn’t know how, but he was alive. The water lapped around him, where he’d been thrown. He was covered in mud, but he was alive. He wondered how many of his men had survived, but he couldn’t look. 

Couldn't move. 

Their enemies were everywhere, if he moved, he’d be shot. 

_Ben added ‘Freeze’ to the chalkboard._

_“Ok, so we have two. Fight, play dead, or freeze, what else can you think of?”_

_“Hide, like a stick insect.”_

_“Like a butterfly.”_

_“Like a frog.”_

_“Frogs don’t hide.”_

_“Yes they do.”_

_“_ _No_ _they don’t.”_

_“Class! You're right, hiding is another way_ _animals_ _protect themselves.”_

There was a splash behind him, and another sound, that Ben realised with terror was a bayonet. They were making sure they were dead. And getting closer. 

The footsteps got closer, closer, closer, Ben lunged, driving his knife through the man's throat, pulling him down quietly. He had to do this without being seen. 

It was a coat and a hat, and yet it was the hardest change of clothes he’d ever had to do. 

From behind him, one of the Rangers called to ask if he was done, well, if the man he’d killed was done. He waved his hand, hiding in plain sight, Praying to God above it would work. 

He stopped at McCormack's body. The boy had been 21, turning 22 in a month. Now Ben was going to have to write to the boy's parents and tell them he was never coming home. None of his men were going home. 

Lord forgive me, he thought, as he plunged the blade into... the corpse. It wasn’t McCormack anymore, it couldn’t be. 

_“Ok, so, Fight, freeze, hide, what else. Theres two left.”_

_“Be big? Like a cow.”_

_“Actually, cows fight. They have very powerful kicks.”_

_“Run, like a rabbit.”_

_“Yeah... or a mouse.”_

Ben reached the edge of the ambush sight and took off at a sprint. There was yelling behind him, but he had to get away. Had to escape, to survive. There was a leak in their information and communication, the Queen’s Rangers were here, these were things the army needed to know. 

He didn’t want to die. 

There was a series of cracks, and the force of the shot that hit his shoulder sent him to the ground. 

“Come on, lads! Let's run him, boys! Let's run him like a dog.” 

Ben hauled himself back to his feet. 

Run. Just run. 

_“That’s right, running, or flight, it another method common among animals. Now, there is one more, can anyone think of what it could be? No, ok, the last one, it’s pack mentality. Now, I know when people say pack, you might think of wolves or dogs, I'm sure that’s what you’ve read in book’s I've asked you to read, but most animals and humans, band together.”_

_“Like a herd of cows, sir?”_

_“Exactly, or a pack of wolves, or a flock of birds, or a town of people. There's safety in being with others, the larger the group, the safer you should be. That goes for_ _predators_ _and prey.”_

He just had to make it to Continental lines, to the nearest patrol. The camp was close, so close. 

He had to make it to the main bulk of the army, the Rangers wouldn’t dare get to close to the numbers they held at camp. 

And then there was a patrolman, and camp guards, and his pursuers vanished into the woods behind him as he collapsed into the camp. 

_“Now Humans are special, because we can do all of them, there isn’t one standard across all people, and a single person may not do the same thing every time. It's fascinating. So, for next week, I want each of you to make a list, with all five of these survival methods, and five examples of each that you see around the town, animals or people. And with homework_ _assigned_ _, you know what that means, maths lesson.”_

“Benny, Christ, are you alright?” 

“Caleb, yeah, I'm fine, got shot. Said it missed everything vital.” 

“You ok?” 

“Just thinking about before the war. I miss teaching. What would my pupils say if they could see me now?” 

**Author's Note:**

> We will get Teacher!Ben the appreciation he deserves in this fandom if I have to write it all myself, hahaha.  
> I hope you enjoyed.  
> Might add more for other episodes, if I get ideas/inspiration for it.  
> Please R+R.


End file.
